Thursday, September 24, 2009

After my husband's robe and our towels started getting bleach spots, we finally discovered the culprit - Nivea Sensitive skin shave gel! Thinking to myself, "if its bleaching our things, what's it doing to our bodies??" I looked at the Cosmetics Database (which breaks down each ingredient and its known hazards) and we decided on the spot to stop using it. Now, what to use instead, you ask??

We had just started switching to more handmade cleaning products, so natural soaps seemed easy enough. I found an all natural shampoo/shave bar from Blue House Soaps and convinced my husband (who will try anything once in the name of "green") to give it a go. I ordered a badger bristle brush (from Amazon for $14), the soap (check out Etsy, too), and off we went! He just wets his face, runs the soap bar over it a few times, then lathers it in with the brush. You can also lather the brush and put it on that way, but this uses less soap - by airing it out each time rather than storing it in a cup, it doesn't dissolve as fast.

The conclusion: a WAY better shave, much nicer smelling, all natural, no can to throw away, no propellant, blades seem to last longer, and no bleaching of our towels!

Also, I've switched over to shampoo bars instead of bottled shampoo. They are all natural (no SLS!), smell great, work well, and don't have any packaging to throw away. There are great sellers on Etsy that make some wonderful shampoo bars and soaps!